Karl Rabe was born on 04 April 1905 in Frankfurt. He joined the
Reichsmarine on 03 April 1923, attaining the rank of Oberleutnant zur See on 01
July 1929.

On 18 February 1932, he was expelled from the Reichsmarine,
having been accused of defrauding fellow crewmembers. He had been the victim of
very unfortunate circumstances. He had planned evening activities one day, but
found himself short of cash. Knowing that the petty cash reserves were to
be checked on the following day, he borrowed some cash with the intent to return it
the following morning. Unfortunately, an unfriendly associate took advantage of
the situation and arranged for an early accounting of the petty cash, which
ultimately resulted in Karl Rabe's expulsion.

After 1932, Karl Rabe entered medical school and earned a doctoral
degree. In the Fall of 1939, Dr. Karl Rabe was
re-admitted to the Kriegsmarine at the rank of Matrose, and served briefly (23
October until 04 November) on U 54. On 05 November 1939, he was assigned
to U-35, and became a prisoner of war when U-35 was scuttled on 29
November 1939.

He was assigned POW Number 37342.

In Canada, Dr. Karl Rabe made repeated escape attempts, as documented in two
books:

It was nearly 1:00 a.m. The hospital corridors were deserted. Having been
sitting for several hours, the corporal on guard and another sentry had
dozed off. The third guard usually on duty had just left the room to call
his relief. Karl Rabe had been awaiting this moment for days. He quietly
got out of bed.
Still dulled by the medicine he was given each day, Rabe nevertheless
succeeded in creeping over to the chair where his clothing lay. The
corridor was empty. Rabe took the stairs and descended to the first floor.
Freedom was not far off. The first doors he tried to open were locked. Then
he noticed another door in a small room. Ah! It was not locked, and there
he was, outside.
First he ran, then slowed so as not to be noticeable. The night was very
cold. While crossing a parking lot, he noticed a trash can full of various
documents. A map of Ontario! What luck! He unfolded it carefully, because
the paper was disintegrating. Rabe established that the United States was
only 50 kilometers away. He devised an itinerary that would take him to
Lake Ontario.
Rabe removed his uniform jacket and carried it under his arm. "I mustn't
attract attention," he thought. He resumed his journey, using the least
traveled streets. Day dawned. Rabe was still walking, but his strides were
shorter now. His feet were hurting him. They were numb with cold.
"I must hide and rest now," decided Rabe.
He found a little wooded area. Despite his nervousness, he managed to fall
asleep, hidden in a thick bush. When night fell, Rabe resumed his journey,
and some hours later finally reached Lake Ontario.
There, he found a sloop moored to a small dock. He approached, looked
around him, then stopped suddenly. The proximity of the water awakened
recent memories. For a few seconds he was back at his command post by the
torpedoes on U-35, that famous evening when they were put out of action by
the British navy.
"I will return to Germany," he murmured to encourage himself. He boarded
the sloop and began to row. Scarcely twenty minutes had passed when he
found himself in a thick fog. Rabe continued to row, without the benefit of
landmarks...
Two hours later, the submariner felt he was lost.
"Where am I?" Suddenly he distinguished lights in the distance. "There it
is, I've found it," he said, comforted.
Quickly, he set to rowing toward what seemed to be a small village. Soon he
touched the shore. A little farther away, some houses were visible. Rabe
tried to find a sign identifying the village.
"Where exactly in the US am I?" he asked himself. His search was in vain,
not the smallest sign was to be seen. He decided to return to his boat. He
walked with difficulty, his head was swimming, his strength ebbing. He had
not had anything to eat for more than 24 hours.
As he prepared to reboard his boat, some men approached and asked him to
identify himself. Rabe took the opportunity to tell them he was a German
prisoner and that he had just escaped from Canada.
"But you are still in Canada," retorted one of them.
Rabe had no choice but to give himself up. They took him to Stanley
detention barracks in Toronto. After a detailed interrogation by soldiers,
he was finally given a meal and warm clothing. Rabe was sent back to the
Toronto hospital, this time under better guard.

In the Lethbridge camp, one man was always trying to escape. His name was
Rabe, he had been a Lieutenant in the Navy but had been demoted to private because of mishandling the money of his crew members. In 1943 he made four escape attempts from the
Lethbridge lager. Early in the summer he made careful notes of the times of guard movements. Each evening big empty plywood boxes for the handling of bread were placed between the inner and outer main camp gates. One night he got into one of the boxes and with a handmade saw started to saw his way out of the box at a time when he calculated no guard was around. However in the silence of the prairie night his sawblade together with the vibrating of the pliable plywood made a terrible noise. Soon a sentry came to the box to watch he was joined by about twenty guards who watched him emerge from the box. His hair was shaved and he received two weeks detention.

Later in the heat of the summer Rabe having studied the drainage system the camp, decided to escape via the storm sewers. He successfully entered the pipes and had arranged to signal his escape to his comrades. However hours went by and no signal. Finally some of the prisoners could hear a faint cry for help. They ran to the guards and asked for help.
Gottfried Dukes was one of those in the rescue party which was allowed to go under guard to the drainage exit. There they found
Rabe tightly pressed against the grill work at the end of the tunnel with water flowing around him.
˜He was holding on for dear life, shivering and holding his face amidst
paper, wood and empty bottles as other waste too big to pass the bards, up
to his mouth in the dirty and stinking runoff. Again a crew cut and two weeks detention.

Escape attempt number three involved power lines connecting the camp buildings. On a rainy night
Rabe attached two wheels with handles protruding on top of the wires and rolled off into the night. Again came the cry
"Help!"
This time the wire spanning the distance over the fence, had drooped and he was left hanging helplessly 3 meters above the ground halfway between the poles but he dared not jumping down because in the dark he couldn't see what was below. This time the prisoners got him down before the guards discovered the event, so no crew cut or two week detention for
Rabe.

The most ambitious escape attempt by this escape-a-holic was the preparation of a hot air balloon to fly over the barbed wire.
Gottfried Dukes learned how to stitch the balloon fabric. Ten prisoners helped in taking army sleeping bags apart, dipping them in a type of glue solution and drying them on the heating pipes. The big sheets were stitched together by hand and eventually the balloon took shape. The appropriate dark, cloudy night with a stiff west wind arrived. They gather the airship to fill it with gas and slowly it filled.
"It was a real monster, about 24 feet long and 10 feet in diameter. We were all excited, this was the real thing!
The decline of our spirits came fast. Filled nearly to bust, big and round the balloon take not an inch to the air. Like a big pumpkin it settled there. The heating gas was heavier than the air, it was not possible to lift the balloon from the ground. The incident wasn't reported as far as I know." [16]

On 01 February 1944, while still in captivity, Dr. Karl Rabe was
re-admitted to the officer ranks, perhaps as a result of the many escape
attempts. He was given the rank of Oberleutnant zur See der Regierung. He
was repatriated on 18 June 1946.

Dr. Karl Rabe established a medical practice after repatriation. He died
on 10 September 1971 in Bad Homburg, and his wife Thea Rabe passed
away on 22 August 2002. They are survived by their daughter, Viola.